Tybee Trip: Days 4-6

Welcome Back!

Monday I covered our Tybee Trip Days 1-3, last Friday I posted about my birthday which was Day 7 of our trip, so today I will wrap up with Days 4-6.

Day 4:
Saturday was our Lighthouse themed day.
In the morning, we were the first people to the Tybee Island Light Station. I was the only one who had ever been to a lighthouse so we all enjoyed seeing this one. Annabeth and I climbed to the top first and she loved it so much that she did it again with Mark! The views were incredible (and so was the workout - whew!)

View from the ground to the top of the lighthouse

We were the first ones there and about 30 minutes early. We let the kids run around

and then I made them take a ton of pictures. I think Annabeth was tired of that by this point. 

View from the top of the lighthouse.

She was so brave and loved running around the top looking at everything. 

We timed our visit really well as just two days later they closed the observation

deck for restoration. I was so glad that we were able to see it all. 

We had lunch back at the condo and Mark stayed back for Owen's nap. I took the chance to go out and do some browsing at some neat art shops I had seen. I knew the kids would not be interested in them, and it would be silly to take a 20 month old to a store with breakables, so I enjoyed about an hour out on my own. I also picked out my souvenir shirt. I had an idea of what I wanted but was having a hard time finding it. Time out without the kids meant I had the chance to look and try on shirts.

Once Owen was up, we took advantage of the sunshine and spent the afternoon on the beach. The kids loved swimming in the tide pools! Tybee Beach is really neat because there is the soft sand, then a tiny hill, tide pools, and then about 50-100 yards of hard, packed sand before you get to where the ocean comes in. This was perfect since our kids are so young and not swimmers yet. I loved that they could swim in the shallow tide pools, the deepest one came to Owen's chest, far away from the waves and current of the ocean.

Annabeth was happy to finally get out her new Frozen swimsuit.

She loved, loved, loved swimming and we couldn't get her out of the water!

Mr. O had his tongue out almost the whole time - we call it "Tasting the Wind" 

Beach Babies. 

We finished out the day with dinner on our porch from Lighthouse Pizza. It was wonderful!

Day 5:
Sunday morning we woke up, had breakfast, and took a long family beach walk. Owen made it 3/4 of a mile before his legs were just too tired to keep going. I was impressed - that is really far, especially on sand, for someone who has only been walking for 3 months!

After our walk, Mark took the kids back for lunch at the condo and I headed to Trinity Chapel UMC for worship. I enjoyed an encouraging service with the sweet church members there. It was really special as that Sunday they dedicated prayer shawls and prayed over meal bags - just like our church here. It is always nice to be reminded that the work of God is being done everywhere.

After naps, we headed out to the beach for another afternoon in the sun and sand. This was the warmest day of the trip, about 75 degrees, and we spent a great afternoon out on the beach! Owen tired out after a couple of hours so I took him back to the condo and Mark and Annabeth stayed out even longer.

This picture of Mark and Owen is one of my favorites from the trip.

I love adventuring with my family.

I am including this one because this is Owen's "Adam Pitt" face.

I often see my cousin Adam, my Grandma Chico, and my Dad in Owen's faces.

He, obviously, looks basically like a Mini-Mark but every now and then I see some of my Riley* blood.

Any of the Pitts or Kuhns agree with me?

We enjoyed a seafood dinner at The Flying Fish to wrap up the day. I encouraged everyone to try conch fritters and everyone liked them! I am so glad that we all liked seafood! The kids are each picky about what kids of birds and mammals that they eat but we all eat all seafood!

Day 6:
We woke up and headed to Oatland Island to visit the Oatland Nature Preserve. This was such a neat place! We were able to walk some long, beautiful trails and we were able to see different animals we would see at home on a nature preserve. The Nature Preserve sustained some real damage last fall in the hurricane and is currently working on rebuilding. Even with part of it under construction, this was a favorite stop for many of us on the whole trip.

Georgia woods certainly look different than Indiana woods! 

We loved all of the beautiful moss hanging on the trees. 

Mark and Owen. 

Owen is obsessed with Mark right now and refuses to do anything unless

Mark is doing it too. It's adorable. 

My blue eyed babies in front of some Georgia wetlands.

After more than three hours of hiking, we headed back to the condo for lunch and nap. I took a long walk down the beach to the Tybee Pier. As I made the turn around to come back, I found part of a broken sand dollar on the beach. I was SO excited! I love sand dollars, and have purchased many in the past at gift shops, but have never found my own on the beach. I carefully took the pieces back to the condo, excited to show everyone. Owen was still asleep, so Mark and Annabeth headed out to the beach. They came back a few hours later with a WHOLE sand dollar! I could not believe it! Annabeth said it was my birthday gift from her and it is perfect!

My perfect sand dollar. 

I am so thankful that we were able to take this trip. I am thankful for everyone who asked me to babysit, for the consignment sale successes, and all of the little ways we made extra money in the past 18 months to save up for this trip. I am also thankful to the grandparents for buying the kids new swimwear and warm weather clothing for Christmas so we would be ready for the trip. I feel so blessed that we were able to spend a week away together, just the four of us, without Mark being calling into work. It was lovely to spend time in nature with the people I love the most. I cannot wait to see where our adventures take us next...

*Fun Fact: I am just as much of a blood-Riley as Mark is! My grandma was born Carolyn Sue Riley and only became a Kuhn upon marriage. Since my grandma carried the Riley name, it was lost as our family surname upon her marriage but the blood remains the same. When I met Mark, and realized I wanted to marry him, I called my grandparents to make sure that our Rileys were not closely related. It is a very common surname in Ireland and I was relieved to hear that in all of the genealogy research Grandpa Chico had done that he couldn't find any of Mark's Rileys. On St. Patrick's Day, I always reference the fact that our children are Double Irish, Double Riley kids and that is why! :)